New national network of energy meters has been delayed three times since 2015.

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The IT system which will underpin the government's already delayed nationwide network of energy smart meters is facing delays, and the project—due to launch on Wednesday—has been pushed back to late September.

A government spokesperson told Ars that "minor delays" in the testing phase of the project had forced the body which will oversee the smart meters to push back the system's deployment once more, after it hit the buffers in 2015 and again in April of this year.

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Smart meters are designed to automatically report data on household gas and electricity usage to energy suppliers; this new problem is understood to be in the communications infrastructure which connects meters to energy companies.

A spokesperson at the department for business, energy, and industrial strategy said:

The new infrastructure is planned to go live at the end of September, it is currently being tested to deliver a long-lasting, world class system to bill payers. In the meantime energy suppliers continue to drive forward the programme, rolling out more than 3.6 million smart meters to homes and business across the country.

The government's ambitious plan wants a smart meter in every home and business by the end of 2020, meaning 53 million of them will need to be fitted in over 30 million locations in that time. Itt is being run by the Data and Communications Company (DCC), a subsidiary of Capita, a firm which outsources considerable amounts of government services and has been heavily criticised for its past failings with big Whitehall projects.

An impact assessment from 2014 suggested that smart meters could mean national savings of around £6 billion in energy costs. It represents "one of the most significant upgrades to Britain’s energy infrastructure making it fit for 21st century life," the government spokesperson said.